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Singing Dolphins Do Batman

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bam-pow-whack dept.

The results of two scientific studies have shown that dolphins are capable of recognizing rhythms and pitch and are able to reproduce them. In order to best demonstrate this ability the scientists chose the epic, Batman theme song and were able to teach a shortened version to the dolphins who reproduced it in response to certain stimuli.

8 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Incorrect headline by XorNand · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ugh... the blurb is woefully incorrect. The dolphins didn't sing, and they certaintly didn't sing the Batman themesong. They were trained to respond to the rhythm of one long beat, followed by one short beat. It's quite a stretch to equate this to the old "Batmaaaannn!" catchphrase, much less the song. Perhaps the dolphins are instead brushing up on Morse code in preparation for a DX contest?

    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
    1. Re:Incorrect headline by mr_matticus · · Score: 4, Informative

      To its credit, the summary does say "shortened version" and the headline says they do 'Batman' and not the 'Batman theme song.' As for TFA, they looked at more than the simple short-long sequence--dolphins were tested to recognize rhythmic sequences more complex than this at various pitches and tempos.

    2. Re:Incorrect headline by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not to mention this isn't really news. The article is from october of last year.

      Here's a more recent article about the same thing. They've moved past just Batman.
      http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-disney dolphin3106may31,0,890126.story

  2. Re:Dolphins singing? by JRGhaddar · · Score: 2, Informative

    here is the link to the dolphins doing thei thing. Dolphin's sing "Batmaaaan"...

  3. Re:I have a dog that can growl "sausages" by foobsr · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Dolphins are highly intelligent aquatic mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin

    Yes, you may be right with regard to "delphinic". But the stupidity involved in regarding dolphins as fish beats my ignorance with regard to the English language.

    CC.

    --
    TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  4. Re:I have a dog that can growl "sausages" by P(0)(!P(k)+P(k+1)) · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dolphins (not delphins, BTW) [...].

    “Delphin” is actually closer to the original Greek delphin, Latin delphinus; if you had your OED handy, you'd see that it was used right up until the seventeenth century* when “dolphin” took over under the influence of Louis XV.

    _____________
    * 1633 P. FLETCHER Pisc. Ecl. VII. xiii. 47 The lively Delphins dance, and brisly Seales give eare.

  5. Re:I have a dog that can growl "sausages" by micpp · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, living in the water makes them aquatic. They don't have gills or lay eggs.

  6. You laugh, but... by FooAtWFU · · Score: 3, Informative
    "Hey, I thought you said Troy McClure was dead."
    "No, what I said was: "He sleeps with the fishes".
    You laugh, but did you hear the one where a woman married a dolphin? (She exhorted people that she's "not a pervert" though, mind you.)

    I also hear of marriages to snakes and dogs.

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.